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Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
PlayStation 3
I’m Going to Name You Phillip.
3.5/5 stars
“Ratchet & Clank: All4One” (“A4O”) is the fourth ‘Ratchet & Clank’ title to grace the PlayStation 3. It is also only the second ‘Ratchet & Clank’ game to feature any kind of multi-player, following in the footsteps of the much-maligned “Ratchet: Deadlocked.” While I skipped “Ratchet: Deadlocked” due to tepid reviews that described a game that sounded nothing like the traditional ‘Ratchet & Clank’ formula, I decided to take the plunge on “A4O” for one reason: the ability to play as Captain Qwark for the first time in the history of the franchise. So, has Insomniac learned from their mistakes with “Ratchet: Deadlocked” and created a true ‘Ratchet & Clank’ game with fully-realized multi-player?
Presentation
Like every other game in the series, “A4O” is like an interactive Pixar movie. The cartoony visuals are smooth and vibrant, and, as usual, the alien designs actually look alien, instead of like “Star Trek” aliens that are obviously pallet-swapped humans with weird lumps on their faces. Environments and characters are all smooth, detailed, and well-animated.
The soundtrack is typical ‘Ratchet & Clank’ fare, but is usually drowned-out by the sounds of explosions. The voice-acting is, as usual, top-notch, with the full cast returning to portray Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark, Dr. Nefarious, Cronk, Zephyr, Mr. Zurkon, and the robotic butler Lawrence.
Story
One of the strong points of the ‘Ratchet & Clank’ series used to be that the titular duo always found themselves foiling the plans of a new intergalactic villain. As of “A4O,” the evil robotic genius, Dr. Nefarious, has been featured no less than three times. I didn’t find him to be a particularly interesting villain the first time, and he still fails to impress me… even as a hero. Yes, Dr. Nefarious rounds-out the four-character roster (fortunately, I was playing with only two other people, so he got to warm the bench).
The game opens with a pre-rendered news report video (that serves to hide approximately 1/3 of the game’s installation time) stating that Dr. Nefarious, once presumed dead, has recently been confirmed as fully operational and up to further… nefarious… deeds. Ratchet and Clank have no interest in pursuing him yet again, and tell the interviewer that they’re retired and just want to return to their home galaxy and get back into their hobbies. Captain Qwark, the recently-elected president of whatever-planet-the-crew-happens-to-be-on-at-the-moment, declares Dr. Nefarious not to be a threat.
That evening, as Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark arrive at a ceremony to award Qwark with the ‘Intergalactic Tool of Justice’ award (which is not even a real thing), Nefarious attacks them by unleashing a horrible, electricity-eating beast (though it seems counter to Nefarious’ hatred of organic lifeforms (‘squishies’) to employ one, no matter how dangerous). Of course, the beast breaks free from Nefarious’ control and he must join up with the others in order to save his own life. As they pendulum between fleeing the monster and attempting to kill it, the crew suddenly finds themselves under assault from an unknown third-party of robots, which seem intent on capturing the monster. Before long, our heroes find themselves captured by these same robots and taken to yet another planet, where they learn that the robots work for a new villain who is intent on collecting the most ferocious lifeforms in the universe for unknown reasons.
“A4O” features little to no back-story for the ‘Ratchet & Clank’ universe, and by this point in the series, even I, an ardent fan since the very first game, have no idea where in the universe the action takes place. I’m also very disappointed that Dr. Nefarious was chosen as the fourth character instead of Helga, the morbidly-obese robotic (how is that even possible?) personal trainer, or the roguish Talwyn from “Tools of Destruction” and “Quest for Booty.” Either of those characters would have added some Girl Power to the team, and would have made more sense than reviving Nefarious AGAIN and having him forge an alliance of convenience with the heroes.
Aside from the few niggles mentioned above, “A4O” does have an entertaining story with several unpredictable twists and plenty of humor. This game still features ‘A-game’ ‘Ratchet & Clank’ writing, just on the lower end of that ‘A.’
Gameplay
Since the series began on the PlayStation 2, ‘Ratchet & Clank’ has been an exploration-based 3D Platformer, seamlessly blended with a Third-Person Shooter through the inclusion of an arsenal of over-the-top weapons. As the series progressed, RPG elements were added, such as Ratchet’s ability to increase his life meter by gaining experience and for Ratchet’s weapons to upgrade themselves through use.
“A4O” completely discards all of these gameplay aspects, and is instead a quasi-3D Beat ‘em Up that just so happens to feature a variety of ranged weapons. Instead of the numerous, wide-open planets that Ratchet explored in previous games, “A4O” features planetary levels that are linear to a fault. Each of these linear stages is dotted with checkpoints, which also act as points-of-no-return, preventing backtracking or searching for secrets (or replenishing ammo!). In addition to the extreme linearity of the game’s stages, there is also the issue of the game’s camera. While the series has always had a dynamic camera that was fairly well-behaved on its own and fully adjustable via the right analog stick, “A4O” features a static camera that changes at specific points and can’t be adjusted at all (it’s very reminiscent of the horrid static camera in the original “Resident Evil”). I can understand static camera angles for the multi-player mode, since the game is not split-screen, but shared-screen, but foisting this awful camera upon even the single-player mode is unacceptable. I constantly found myself trying to nudge the camera around, only to open the weapon-selection menu, which is now governed by the right analog stick alone instead of a button to open the menu and the analog stick to select a weapon from the open menu.
The arsenal of weapons in “A4O” is fairly small as well. Apart from a single unique weapon for each, all of the characters have access to the same variety of blasters, grenades, rocket launchers, etc. None of these weapons are particularly original, compared to the rest of the series, and can only be improved by purchasing 3 upgrades from the same shop that sells the weapons themselves: ammo capacity, power boost, and elite boost. Regardless of upgrades, however, the characters never seem to have access to enough ammo, especially for the handful of useful weapons. In addition to weapons, the game features a limited number of gadgets, the most useful of which are the Swingshot grappling hook (which can now grapple to designated object AND other players) and the Vac-U. The Vac-U is a new vacuum gadget that allows characters to suck-up money and items, with secondary uses in solving puzzles by pulling on knobs or blowing on fans. It can also be used to launch a willing ally and to distribute healing nanotech to a fallen ally.
The differences between the single-player and multi-player modes are incredibly minor. When playing alone, the game provides a single AI ally. Since I played as Qwark, the game decided to give me Clank as a partner. This ally is reasonably competent in battle and at navigating the stages. The ally can also revive the player-character with the Vac-U but doesn’t require the player to babysit them or worry about reviving them. In multi-player, everyone has to look-out for each other constantly as, should one player fall and not be revived, everyone dies. The game is a bit merciful about group deaths by not counting death-by-bottomless-pit for one character as death for everyone, instead respawning the clumsy character nearby with the same amount of health they had when they fell into the pit. Unlike most games in the series, “A4O” gives characters a limited amount of health that can’t be increased, with characters able to take four hits on Normal difficulty and three hits on Hard before being KO’ed. Another key co-op mechanic that features prominently in both single-player and multi-player is the ability to team up on an enemy to deal extra damage. Multiple characters shooting a single enemy with the same weapon receive an increased rate of fire, increased damage, and a time-dilation effect that slows down the action and makes it easier to avoid enemy projectiles. This co-op ability frequently falls apart, however, when one player runs out of ammo for a specific weapon before everyone else.
Aside from the Beat ‘em Up gameplay, “A4O” features a handful of stages with specific gameplay gimmicks. There’s one stage where they crew must pilot an escape pod through an asteroid field, one SHMUP-like stage where the crew rides on the back of an enormous robot while firing turrets at incoming targets, and two stages that require the crew to descend danger-riddled shafts via jetpacks (These last ones were incredibly reminiscent of the second stage of “Battletoads” on the NES!). “A4O” is, at its core, an overly-simplified, incredibly short experience. The entire game can be finished in approximately 12 hours, leaving a variety of skill points and Trophies for completionists to chase. Yet the previously-mentioned linearity of the game makes chasing skill points and grinding for money into an exercise in boring tedium. The game also features an abrupt and jarring difficulty spike in the second-to-last stage. I presume this spike was put in place to encourage players to replay previous levels to grind for weapon upgrades before defeating the final boss, which is a cheap way to extend gameplay time versus actually providing additional content, engaging side-quests, or interesting secrets.
Overall
In breaking away from the traditional ‘Ratchet & Clank’ formula of exploration-based 3D platforming and third-person shooting, “Ratchet & Clank: All4One” discards the highly-polished gameplay conventions that helped the series stand-out from the sea of ‘me-too’ character-driven 3D Platformers in the first place. As a short, incredibly-linear Beat ‘em Up that just happens to feature ‘Ratchet & Clank’ characters, “A4O” may still be fun to watch, but is not particularly fun to play. This game certainly isn’t worth the full price of a retail PS3 game and would feel more at home as a $15 PSN download. Hopefully Insomniac will return the series to its proper form for the next entry, lest the greatest 3D Platforming franchise in the history of the genre be destroyed by misplaced innovation.
Presentation: 5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 3/5 Single Player, 2.5/5 Multi-Player
Overall (not an average): 3.5/5
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